Dear All of Us,
For starters this week
please allow me
to share,
of all things,
a tiny bit about
soccer and me.
When I went to
the minor seminary
as a teenage boy
back in 1955,
oh yes, there were
adolescent hominids
moving and active
on this earth
that far back
and this one
didn't have
a clue on
how to do that
on a soccer field.
I knew zip, zero
about soccer.
For such as us
new at the
minor seminary,
it was announced
on day one that
there would be
mandatory soccer
every Monday,
Wednesday, and Friday
after classes,
September to Christmas.
The prospect was daunting.
Soccer for me was a great big
HOW
do you do this
and
not get mauled?
In a little way
it was like our
ominous right now.
We face a world-wide
field of play
new, strange
and menacing.
The old order
is gone and
a new one
hasn't even
heard of horizons.
Our world is torn
in aggressive turmoil. (1)
So many seem
to know zip, zero
about how
to take that field
and stay upright.
It's all so dire,
different, difficult,
dangerous.
It's just
getting started,
not at all
familiar,
predictable,
neat nor tidy.
Daunting indeed,
even denting!
I eventually learned
HOW
to stay upright
on the soccer field.
HOW
do we all do so
on today's
plain of peril?
The best I know is to hear
Really, Really
Hear
Jesus
at our center self
hear like never before
receive from Him
what it will take
to live in our new
not at all nice now.
In doing that
we need to know
we'll have to do so
on a far from level
playing field.
Empire is vast
and crazy chaotic.
Jesus sums up
for us the
Judeo-Christian
Life Wisdom
that is our
answer and way:
Just then a
religion scholar
stood up
with a question
to test Jesus.
"Teacher, what do
I need to do
to get eternal life?
He answered,
"What is written
in God's Law?
How do you
interpret it?
He answered,
"You shall love
the Lord your God
with all your
passion and prayer and
muscle and intelligence -
and that you
love your neighbor
as well as
you do yourself."
Good answer!"
said Jesus.
"Do it and you'll live." (2)
Luke 10:25-28
The Message
Love
God Neighbor Self
But
what's the
NOW HOW
of that?
Nothing shy of a
MAJOR SPIRITUAL
RESET
It is the only way
to take to this new,
frightening,
Field of Way Less
Than Dreams
and stay standing.
Pleasant church going,
cultural religiosity,
won't go the distance.
It would mean
being mowed down
less than a foot in
on the field before us.
We will need immense
strength and stamina,
wisdom and courage.
God will give it
IF
we let God get
close enough
to do that.
What's at issue here
is deep, solid, constant
intimacy with God,
not piety,
intimacy.
God so desires
that intimacy with us.
God is Love Itself.
God is passionately
in love with us.
God wants us so close
that there is just
The One Of Us -
God-Neighbor-Self,
The powerful paradox
of union.
In that union
we will have an
immediacy
and
fullness
of the
strength
stamina
wisdom
needed.
It's a tryptic
of
Love
We're talking here of
red hot love,
unequivocal,
undiluted,
passionate,
all pervasive,
LOVE
What will that be like?
Here's three little pieces
in a sampler.
Let's each
add to it
multiple many
particulars more.
LOVE OF GOD
At least half an hour
every day of
one on one
to be
ONE
soulful
love making.
Not piety,
intimacy.
LOVE OF NEIGHBOR
Loving the people
devastating
The Common Good
and
The Good Earth.
The Good Earth.
LOVE OF SELF
forgiving our flaws
living our uniqueness.
"I can do all things
through Him
who strengths me." (3)
That's
our surety
as we take the field,
our steady footing.
That's
HOW
******
**************
HOW - PART TWO
is in the works.
**************
(1) The World Is In Chaos.
What Comes Next?
New York Times
January 11, 2026
It will take some time
and it will be time
well spent,
especially Part Five,
Expect Continued Chaos,
Margaret Macmillan
(3) Philippians 4:13
******
We have been blessed
in the past few weeks
with many new friends
from
a rich plenitude of
lands and peoples.
A WARM WELCOME
******
ONLINE POSTINGS
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East Coast USA time.
******
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******
Thanks to all
who share
these postings
with others.
******
See you next week.
Every goodness
and blessing.
may we all get
the hang of the
HOW
Love to all.
God Bless,
John Frank
******
frankly speaking
spirituality for the street
johnfrankshare.blogspot.com
******
